The Undermining of the Political Process

In February 1982, Comoros became a one-party state. The
government designated Abdallah's newly formed Comoran
Union for
Progress (Union Comorienne pour le Progrès--UCP) as the
republic's sole political party. Although unaffiliated
individuals could run for local and national office, the
only
party that could organize on behalf of candidates
henceforth
would be the UCP. In March 1982 elections, all but one of
Abdallah's handpicked UCP candidates won. UCP candidates
likewise
dominated the May 1983 National Assembly elections, and
opposition candidates attempting to stand for election in
balloting for the three islands' legislative councils in
July
were removed from the lists by the Ministry of Interior.
Abdallah
himself was elected to a second six-year term as head of
state in
September 1984, winning more than 99 percent of the vote
as the
sole candidate. During the National Assembly elections of
March
22, 1987, the Abdallah regime arrested 400 poll watchers
from
opposition groups. A state radio announcement that one
non-UCP
delegate had been elected was retracted the next day.

Abdallah also kept opponents from competing with him in
the
arena of legitimate politics by reshuffling his government
and
amending the 1978 constitution. As part of what one
observer
wryly called the process of "remov[ing] his most avid
successors
from temptation," Abdallah pushed through a constitutional
amendment in 1985 that abolished the post of prime
minister, a
move that made the president both head of state and head
of the
elected government. The amendment also diminished the
status of
Ali Mroudjae, the erstwhile prime minister and a likely
future
candidate for president. Another 1985 amendment took away
many of
the powers of the president of the National Assembly,
including
his right to become interim head of state in the event of
the
incumbent's death. The amendment transferred the right of
succession to the president of the Supreme Court, an
appointee of
the head of state. Feeling the effect of this second
amendment
was assembly president Mohamed Taki, another man generally
regarded as presidential timber.

Mroudjae's subsequent career in the Abdallah government
illustrated the way in which Abdallah used frequent
reshufflings
of his cabinet to eliminate potential challengers.
Mroudjae's
next job was to share duties as minister of state with
four other
people; he was removed from the government altogether in
another
reshuffle four months later.

Looking to the end of his second (and, according to the
constitution, final) term as head of state, Abdallah
created a
commission in 1988 to recommend changes to the
constitution.
These changes, among other things, would permit him to run
yet
again in 1990. A referendum on revisions to the
constitution was
scheduled for November 4, 1989.

A weak, divided, and opportunistic opposition
facilitated
Abdallah's efforts to undermine the political process. The
character of Comoran politics ensured that opposition
would be
sustained by an unwieldy group of strong personalities. As
the
personal stock of these would-be leaders rose and fell,
coalitions coalesced and just as quickly fell apart in a
process
that engendered distrust and cynicism. The ban on
opposition
political organizations at home--brutally upheld, when
necessary,
by the Presidential Guard (Garde Presidentelle--GP) and
the
Comoran military--further undercut efforts to organize
against
the head of state. The French government's displeasure at
intrigues of Comoran exiles in Paris also complicated
opposition
efforts.

Given the absence of an ideological basis for resisting
the
regime, it was also not surprising that some opposition
leaders
were willing to ally themselves with the head of state if
such a
move appeared likely to advance them personally. For
example,
Mouzaoir Abdallah, leader of the opposition Union for a
Democratic Republic in Comoros (Union pour une République
Démocratique aux Comores--URDC), appeared with the
president at
independence day celebrations in July 1988 amid rumors
that the
URDC chief was being considered for a reconstituted prime
minister's office. In September 1988 another opposition
leader,
Said Hachim, agreed to join the commission considering
revisions
to the constitution.

The credibility of Abdallah's opponents was also
damaged by
the efforts of one opposition leader, former ambassador to
France
Said Ali Kemal, to recruit mercenaries to help overthrow
the
Abdallah government. Arrested in Australia in late 1983,
six of
the mercenaries gave testimony discrediting Kemal.

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